By Benjamin Akio Kimitch and Yasuko Yokoshi

dojojiproject is a practice-based, international research project led by a Japanese American choreographer Benjamin Akio Kimitch and a Japan-born choreographer Yasuko Yokoshi. Since 2022, the two have met annually in Kyoto and New York to explore how traditional dance is passed on through the body, working with the su-odori “plain dance” version of the Nihon Buyo classic Kyokanoko Musume Dojoji.

The core of the project is the act of transmission itself; one artist teaching the other. We treat this teaching moment as the primary research material: its rhythms, misunderstandings, shared sensations, and discoveries. Through this hands-on process, we look at how tradition remains alive and how it evolves through embodied practice.

Rather than reconstructing an historical work, dojojiproject focuses on the live, moment-to-moment process of what is passed on and what resists being passed on. A central part of this process is hosting open rehearsals where guests are welcome to observe the working process as it unfolds and to join a brief conversation afterward. dojojiproject is ongoing and future iterations for the public are in development.

Summer 2023 in Kyoto, Japan

Winter 2023 in Brooklyn, USA

Fall/Winter 2025 in Kyoto, Japan